Wrong Way Detection System Set For Highway Ramp In Manchester

MANCHESTER, CT — A wrong way detection system is to be installed on a stretch of highway in Manchester next week, officials from the Connecticut Department of Transportation said Wednesday.

The markers will be set up on Interstate 384 westbound at Exit 3 in Manchester on Monday, DOT officials said.

Motorists should expect an exit ramp closure on I-384 westbound at Exit 3. Traffic will be detoured to take Exit 2, turn left off the ramp, and then left onto I-384 eastbound to Exit 3, DOT officials said.

The DOT had conducted an analysis of more than 700 ramp locations in Connecticut and identified several risk factors:

• Multiple off-ramps that meet at the same location
• Wrong way event history
• Presence of businesses that serve alcohol within a half-mile of the ramp
• Presence of raised median or guide rail separating the on- and off-ramps
• Lack of sufficient highway illumination.

Several have already been installed in the area:

• Windsor: I-91 Northbound HOV Lane Exit to Route 218
• Windsor: I-91 Exit 38 Northbound
• Windsor: Route 291 Exit 5 Westbound
• East Hartford: I-84 Westbound HOV Exit at Silver Lane
• East Hartford: Route 2 Exit 3 Eastbound

In 2022, there were 13 wrong way crashes that resulted in 23 fatalities and preliminary data from 2023 shows there were five wrong way crashes that resulted in seven fatalities, DOT officials said.

And in almost every wrong way crash, the driver was found to be impaired by alcohol, they added.

In efforts "to stop these crashes from happening," the DOT has been installing wrong way driving countermeasures over the past two years. In 2023, Governor Lamont renewed his commitment to the program by signing a Wrong Way Driving Detection and Prevention Law that instructs the DOT to continue the mitigation efforts.

The systems are designed to detect a driver entering a highway ramp in the wrong direction. If they are traveling the wrong way, bright red flashing lights are activated. In some locations, the technology will also notify the Connecticut State Police and the CTDOT Highway Operations Center, officials said.